Product Details

• Actors: Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Alexander Siddig, Terry Farrell, Cirroc Lofton
• Directors: David Carson
• Writers: Frederick Rappaport, Gene Roddenberry, Jeanne Carrigan-Fauci, Lisa Rich, Michael Piller
• Producers: David Livingston
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: November 5, 1996
• Run Time: 106 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304209436
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #528,609 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Wadi are an interesting people. They obviously don't give a hoot about Federation First Contact formalities. In fact, when greeted by an uptight Captain Sisko and his officers decked out in full dress uniform, Master Surchid Falow (Joel Brooks) demands to be taken to Quark's Bar. To play games. Now. Not one to argue in the face of warped logic, Sisko wisely obliges. The Wadi may come from the Gamma Quadrant, but they prefer to reside in Wacky Land. Although it owes its existence to the famous "Checkmate" episode of British TV's The Prisoner, "Move Along Home" is also a tight, well-crafted piece of science fiction writing. The story is deceptively simple. The Wadi turn out to be excellent game players. They win a lot. Ferengi Quark goes gonzo and resorts to cheating in order to salvage his profit margin. The Wadi, who are no fools, catch him and decide he must be punished. They "invite" Quark to play one of their games. So much for Sisko's precious First Contact folderol.

Joel Brooks is maniacally perfect as Falow. Not to be outdone, gifted Armin Shimmerman manages to imbue Quark with poignant smarm. Watch for truly great Ferengi groveling. Listen for the best upper-level-management line of the entire series ("I'm a Bajoran administrator. This is not what I signed up for!") and cool role-playing game in-jokes. "Move Along Home" may be simple, but it's also a whole lot of surreal fun. --Kayla Rigney

From the Back Cover

Commander Sisko (Avery Brooks) welcomes the Wadi, a new alien species from the Gamma Quadrant. Once on board, the alien leader, Falow (Joel Brooks), dispenses with the pleasantries and immediately heads for Quark's Bar to gamble.

Sensing a profit-making opportunity, Quark (Armin Shimerman) encourages the aliens to play Dabo, and they begin to win. But when Quark is caught rigging the game, Falow forces him to play a new game called Chula. When the game begins, Sisko and his senior officers disappear from the station and find themselves trapped in a dangerous alien labyrinth. As Quark moves his pieces along the game board, Sisko and the others simultaneously travel through the labyrinth. Quark is playing with their lives!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Video Worth Playing, October 3, 2000

By 

L C "lc70" (Binghamton, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 10: Move Along Home [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a nice Star Trek episode, in the classic style of discovering new life and new civilizations.

Sisko and his crew do not often "boldly go" anywhere in the first few seasons (being grounded by Starfleet to DS9?), but every once in a while a new species will happen upon the promenade. In this case, it's the Wadi, the first formal contact between a Gamma quadrant species and the Federation. In the Wadi's culture, games and gaming is everything, and cheating the greatest crime. Enter Quark... stage left...

After Quark is discovered cheating, Sisko, Dax, Bashir and Kira are punished for the Ferengi's crime, and placed in a maze, forced to face numerous challenges and perils...

This is a nice little episode. It was refreshing to encounter a Trek culture not obsessed with war and the military, nor suffering from the same. It really does not act as a lead in to other episodes, but that's ok...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars the Vulcans play a game with the Federation, October 23, 2004

By 

Shelley Gammon "Geek" (Kaufman, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 10: Move Along Home [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The Vulcans make first contact with a new race, the Wadi, in the Gamma Quadrant and send the Wadi to DS9 to meet Sisko and the rest of the senior staff. This quite illogical set up sends an odd group of humanoids to DS9 and all that Sisko knows is what they are called. They are given zero background information. They don't know anything about this culture, how to properly greet them, what their values are or anything. That whole premise is stupid enough to lose a star. If they had said that the Nagus met them and sent them to Quark's, that would make more sense. It would seem that the silly Wadi are a bit too trivial for the Vulcans, so they figured we inferior humans would enjoy their company more. Nice, heh?

The Wadi don't care for formal chit-chat - their culture is game-driven - they love to learn new games and strategy. Falow, the apparent leader of the group of visiting Wadi asks to be led to the games. They go to Quarks and quickly master the game of Dabo, cleaning Quark's clock in the process. To keep from going bankrupt, Quark implements some cheating technology to even the odds and the Wadi catch him in the act. Quark pleads innocent, then pleads for mercy and the Wadi introduce him to a new game, called Chula. Quark doesn't have much of a chance, but is discouraged when part of the rules of the game are that you must learn the game as you play.

As the game begins, we shift to Sisko's quarters where he's all tucked in and getting comfy in his bed. As he turns over, he finds that he is no longer in his bed, but in a large room with the lights blazing. He's naturally disoriented to find himself not only somewhere he's never been before, but to find himself wearing his uniform, his communicator and with a tricorder in his holster. He tries to find a way out of wherever he is and he runs into Dax, Bashir and Kira who all found themselves in this weird place with no explanation.

As we shift back and forth between the 4 senior officers trying to find their way out of the geometrically designed rooms, and then to Quark's where he has 4 game pieces he's moving, it becomes obvious that Falow has somehow trapped Sisko and company in the game and Quark has their lives in the palms of his hands.

Sisko, Bashir, Kira & Dax must "advance" from one level to another, figuring out the rules which become more complex as the game continues - all the while, they have no idea that Quark is moving the pieces that determine their fate and that their actions determine how many gemstones he wins as he gambles with their lives.

First they must play celestial hopscotch, then they are exposed to lethal gas at a "through the looking glass" type of party in which they must figure their way out before they succomb.

When Jake tells Odo that his father is missing, Odo discovers that Sisko isn't even on the station. When he goes to tell Kira, he finds her missing as well and soon discovers that 4 officers are AWOL and there are no records of how or when they left the station. When he goes to Quark's, he finds Quark in the middle of playing Chula. When he announces that 4 officers are missing, Quark has an epiphany and Quark and Odo look in horror at the tiny game pieces and realize the stakes are higher than either of them could have imagined.

Even though they have a complete Federation crew aboard, they're no one we really know or trust - Worf hasn't arrived yet and O'Brien is on earth, escorting Keiko to her grandmother's 100 birthday. Odo beams aboard the Wadi ship to investigate, but the rest of the Federation crew just turn bolts and oil cogs - because Odo never asks them to assist - they are basically worthless and they don't even seem to notice that their 3 most senior officers and the Bajoran attache are missing. Whatever!

The game is interesting and can be a bit of a nailbiter as Sisko realizes that Falow must be testing them, but never realize that they are in Quark's gnarled hands... but in these early episodes, holes in the plots abound and this episode is no different. Peppered in with intriguing scenes, is non-stop eye-rolling.

3.0 out of 5 stars We play the contest again..., August 11, 2003

By 

Andrew McCaffrey "The Grumpy Young Man" (Satellite of Love, Maryland) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 10: Move Along Home [VHS] (VHS Tape)

MOVE ALONG HOME is what you get when you take the original Star Trek series, add a dash of the television classic, The Prisoner, and mix it all up in the plot of "The Celestial Toymaker" episode of Doctor Who. That is to say, it's not wholly original, and it's not mind-blowingly good, but it is certainly an entertaining piece of television, and an hour that I enjoyed.

This episode is another of those stories where real-life people become pawns in a much larger game -- literally. Sisko, Bashir, Dax, and Kira are the game-pieces in question, while Quark and Odo are on the outside looking in - with Quark being the one with his hand on the dice. Much of the story is played for laughs, which is good since as a straight drama it probably wouldn't have worked. But the gags are never less than enjoyable, and at best, they are laugh-out-loud funny.

This isn't a great episode of television, but it's certainly watchable. It entertained me for the most part, and I can't complain too much about that. It's breezy, amusing, and doesn't take itself very seriously.